NASCAR rail: Pepsi 500 at a glance -- UPDATED

Pepsi 500 at a glance. UPDATES with Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards being placed on probation for six weeks.

Dan Beaver

WHERE: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA

WHEN: TV Start 7:00 p.m. ET

BROADCAST: ESPN, live on Sirius satellite radio, channel 128

THE LOWDOWN: The past two weeks have been hard on Chase contenders with Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon failing to finish at Michigan and then Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kahne getting caught up in wrecks at Bristol. Bristol provided relief for Hamlin (third place) and Gordon (fifth), but they are not out of danger yet with a narrow lead over 13th in the standings and two races remaining. The fight for first place this week is bound to be far less interesting than the battle among the bubble boys.

You want a rivalry? You’re about to get one. Between them, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch have won six of the last seven races and in three of these events, they finished nose-to-tail in first and second. Edwards holds the advantage right now by winning back-to-back events with Busch on his bumper. The rivalry was solidified when Edwards got into Busch's back bumper at Bristol and perfectly executed the bump-and-run to steal victory from the driver who led 415 of 500 laps. Busch responded by driving into Edwards after the race and Edwards bumped him right back. NASCAR announced Wednesday that it was placing both drivers on probation for six weeks for their post-race shenanigans.

1. Kyle Busch
Last three years’ average finish at California: 5.8 in six starts

If Busch had won the last two races instead of Edwards, the No. 18 might have as much as an 80-point advantage entering the Chase—and that, as much as last week's bump-and-run, is frustrating to Busch.

2. Carl Edwards
Last three years’ average finish at California: 7.2 in six starts

Edwards remains the king of the two-mile tracks, with victories at both Michigan and Auto Club in his last six combined starts and an average finish of 3.2 during that span.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Last three years’ average finish at California: 22.7 in six starts

In order to take some of the heat off crew chief Tony Eury Jr. for his recent bad pit calls, Earnhardt decided to shoot himself in the foot by jumping the start of the Sharpie 500 at Bristol.

4. Jimmie Johnson
Last three years’ average finish at California: 5.8 in six starts

Johnson will be more than happy to head to Auto Club this week. In his native state, he has seven first-, second- or third-place finishes in 11 attempts, including the last three races.

5. Jeff Burton
Last three years’ average finish at California: 12.7 in six starts

Burton's three-year average finish at Auto Club isn't great, but when he brings his A-game, he is capable of finishing strong with three top-fives in his last five starts.

6. Tony Stewart
Last three years’ average finish at California: 14.2 in six starts

As his lame duck season winds down, the opportunities for Stewart to win are dwindling. He has not had a top-five at Auto Club in nearly three years and this is his third-worst track in terms of average results.

7. Greg Biffle
Last three years’ average finish at California: 19.2 in six starts

In 2005, something clicked for Biffle at Auto Club. He finished first and second in two races that year, but those are his only top-10s on a track where he has a career average finish of only 19.6.

8. Kevin Harvick
Last three years’ average finish at California: 16.2 in six starts

Things can change quickly in NASCAR. It wasn't that long ago we were wondering if Harvick could hang onto the top 12 and now he sits comfortably in eighth with two races remaining.

9. Jeff Gordon
Last three years’ average finish at California: 11.0 in six starts

With Clint Bowyer finishing seventh last week and David Ragan 10th, Gordon's fifth-place result at Bristol did not give him as much breathing room in the points as he would have hoped.

10. Matt Kenseth
Last three years’ average finish at California: 4.7 in six starts

In his last three Labor Day races on this two-mile track, Kenseth has finished exactly seventh. With three top-fives in the spring, he has the best three-year average finish of all competitors.

11. Denny Hamlin
Last three years’ average finish at California: 17.8 in five starts

Last week, a contrite Hamlin made up for saying that his team didn't deserve a spot in the Chase by finishing third, but the No. 11 team still has four sub-20th-place finishes in the last seven races.

12. Clint Bowyer
Last three years’ average finish at California: 17.8 in five starts

Bowyer sustained damage in the same crash at Bristol that ended Kasey Kahne's race, but he soldiered on to finish in the top 10. Efforts like that may just solidify his spot in the Chase.